Boiler-tube cleaner.



PATENTED MAY 22, 1906.

C. L. GHARVAT.

BOILER TUBE CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17.1902.

.Wai'ndddaia a. 7. OYZZQZZ.

UNITED STATIES PATENT OFFICE.

BOILER-TUBE CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 1906.

Application filed June 1'7, 1902. Serial No. 112,097

To all whmn it may concern- Be .it known that I, CHARLES L. CHARVAT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boiler-Tube Cleaners; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has reference to cleaning devices for tubular boilers.

The aim of the invention is to provide a tool operated through the instrumentality of steam, compressed air, or like medium, by means of which scale and other sedimentary substances may be quickly and easily re.

moved from the tubes of a boiler.

The invention is fully disclosed in the fol lowing specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by the same numerals of reference in; each of the views, and in which* 5 Figure 1 is a view in outline of my device. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the device' and a portion of a tube, showing the invention applied. Fig. 3 is a cross-section 011 the, line X X of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line Y Y of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a crosssection on the line Z Z of Fig. 1 and Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the shell of the de' vice, illustrating certain details.

The cleaning device comprises the part 1, having the tubular portion 2 and the open slotted portion 3, in which is arranged and operated the vital features of my invention.- In the tubular portion 2 of the part 1 I arrange a reciprocating piston, and in the open 'slotted portion 3 I arrange a compound lever carrying a tool and having suitable connection with the piston for operating the same. The central bearing of the piston is disposed to one side of the central bearing-line of the part 1, as shown, and 4 indicates a partition separating the tubular portion 2 from the portion 3, and 5 is an opening bearing through the partition 4 for the admission of a stem forming part of the piston to be described.

Having described the foundation for carrying the operative parts of my device, I will now describe them.

6 indicates a form of piston which I wish to employ arranged to be reciprocated in the tubular portion 2 of the part 1, and the same has the reduced stem portion 7 passing and operating through the opening 5 of the partition 4. (Seen in Fig. 2.) The piston 6 is provided with ports 8, communicating with a slide-valve and arranged for the admission of live steam and for the exhaust-steam, and 9 is an exhaust-port bearing through the piston and arranged to intermittingly and alternately receive exhaust-steam through the ports 8, and the said port 9 communicates with oppositely-arranged exhaust-ports 10 in the wall of the tubular portion 2, which eX- tend longitudinally of the part 1 and communicate with transverse ports 11, opening into the portion 3, whence it escapes into the tube of the. boiler for blowing off the scale loosened by the tool.

12 indicates a rectangular transverse opening in the piston 6, and 13 is a slide.valve arranged to reciprocate within said opening or chamber and to alternately open or close the ports 8, which communicate with said chamber, as shown. The valve is provided with the depressed body part 14, forming a chamber for steam passing from the ports 8 into the exhaust-port 9. The ports 8, which open out of the piston, communicate with cham-' bered portions 15 in the wall of the portion 2 of the part 1, and the said chambers are provided with reduced or contracted chambers 16, the function of said chambers being further set out.

17 indicates tubular openings longitudinal I of the piston opening out of each end and into the chambered portion 12, and 18 is a rod or stem longer than the len th of the piston which passes through and as a bearing in the opening 17 of the piston and passes through the chamber 12, as shown in Fig. 2, and the said stem or rod 18 has the cut-out portion 19, in which is seated the slide-valve 13 for a purpose to be described.

20 indicates a head portion of the same diameter as the part 1 and abuts against the end of portion 2 for closing the tubular opening therein and is bolted or otherwise suitably secured to the part 1. To the head is attached an inlet-pipe 21, which may be used for advancing the device in-and out of a boiler-tube, and the same communicates with a port 22 of the head, which in turn communicates with a port 23 in the wall of the tubular portion 2 of the part 1 for the admission of live steam to the chamber 12 of the piston, which is caused. to alternately pass through the ports 8 and into the chambers 15 for ac- IIO tuating the piston. The port 23 opens into the chamber 12 of the piston at all times, as the same is of such a size as to bein communication with the port 23, no matter in what position it may be.

Referring to the cutting device, 24 is a hammer-arm carrying on its outer end the hammer or tool 25, suitably secured thereto, and the arm is pivoted at 25 between the walls forming the open way of the part 3, and 26 is a short extension of the arm 24, to which is pivoted at 27 the outer end of a link 28, whose inner end is pivoted at 29 to a bar 30. This bar at its lower end is pivoted at 31 to the wall of the part 3 and has an elongated slot or opening 32 at its upper end. Connection is had with the outer end of the stem 7 of the piston by means of a coupling 33, having screw connection at 34 with the end of the stem and also fastened by a cotterpin 35 passing through the same to prevent the parts becoming dislodged, which would change the position of the piston. The coupling 33 has the bifurcated ears 36 engaging the upper end of the bar 30 by a pin 37 passing through the same and the slot 32.

Referring to the portion 3, the diameter of the same is reduced slightly from the portion 2 to provide for a sleeve 38, which is slipped over the same, as shown, the provision of which is to permit the placing and removal of the operative parts of the scale-loosening device, comprising the hammer-arms, &c., and to confine the pins which pass through the walls of the part 1 to retain the working arts of the tool inposition. In addition thiss eeve assists in retarding the egress of the exhaust and enables me to use what lubricant is contained in the motive medium to lubricate the parts carried within the portion 3, and 39 is a cap inclosing the end of the portion 3 by being bolted or otherwise suitably secured thereto, the same provided with an elongated opening 40, through which the lever 24 protrudes, as shown.

The operation of the device may be briefly stated as follows: The steam or other motive medium being conveyed to the port 23 will pass into the chamber 12 and from there through a port 8 and through a chamber 15 and drive the piston from one end of the tubular portion 2 of the part 1 to the other end, the air or other motive medium in the rear of the piston as the same is reversed escaping through a chamber 15, port 8, and through the eXhaust-ports 9 in the piston and 10 in the part 1. What I wish to call particular attention to in the operation of my device is the means employed for shifting the slide-valve 13, and also the piston for operating the tool, so that a quick sharp blow will be imparted to the tool 25, the arrangement and o eration of the parts being such that the too may be operated under a minimum amount of steam-pressure. The stem 18, which controls the movements of the slidevalve,being much longer than the piston itself, as the piston is advanced in either direction will engage the head 20 or the partition 4 in advance of the piston reaching the length of its stroke, and during the ad vancement of the piston as the end of the stem 18 engages the head 20 or the partition 4 it will be shifted slightly in an opposite di rection to the movement of the piston by such contact, sufliciently to cause the slidevalve to be shifted into a position to close the port 8, then open, and to open the opposite port. At this time the end of the piston has passed beyond the chamber 15, but does not cover entirely the contracted chamber 16, allowing a small amount of live steam to pass through the chamber 16, which will shift the stem 18 and the valve 13 so as to fully open the port 8, then designed to be brought into play for shifting the piston in an opposite direction, which will admit a full supply of steam to pass through the port 8, then in po sition, and out through the chambers 15 and 16, and simultaneously apply such force against the end of the piston for delivering the blow of the tool. This insures the piston being kept in motion, as instantly the end of the stem 18 abuts with the head or partition sufiicient live steam is permitted to bear against the end of the stem for shifting the slide-valve to apply the full supply of steam against the end of the piston and in such a manner that the blow of the tool will be sharp and quick. A further reason for contracting the chambers 15 at 16 is to provide for assisting the tool 25 to make a full stroke during the reciprocating of the piston. If the chambers 15 were closed abruptly by the movement of the piston, it might tend to retard the -movement of the tool and not ive it a full stroke, while the contracting of t e chambers 15 at 16 permits just sufficient motive medium to enter back of the piston to change the position of the stem 18 for actuating the valve to insure pressure enough being applied to return the piston after each stroke of the tool-that is to say, as the piston finishes its movement in the cylinder steam will enter behind or in front of the same during the finishing of each stroke of the tool, acting as a cushion which will give momentum to the piston for returning it in the opposite direction as the stroke of the tool is completed. All of these points, it is believed,will bereadily understood by those versed in this art, and I do not wish to confine myself to the application of the device, nor to its arrangement of parts, as various changes may be made and details resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of invention herein.

I do not herein claim the engine construction, as it forms the subject-matter of a copending application, Serial No. 132,729, filed November 25, 1902.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A scale-removing device, comprising a member, having a cylinder portion, an extension in advance of the cylinder portion slotted from one side and having matching walls, a piston operatively carried in the cylinder portion, the hammer-arm 24 having one end pivoted between the walls of the aforesaid extension and carrying a tool on its outer end, the bar 30 pivoted to said exten-,

sion and connections between said bar, the piston and hammer-arm 24, substantially as described.

2. A scale-removing device, comprising a member, having a cylinder portion, a reduced extension in advance of the cylinder portion slotted substantially as shown, a sleeve encircling the slotted portion, a piston operatively carried in the cylinder portion, the hammer-arm 24 pivoted'at in the slotted portion, the bar and connections between the same and piston, and the link 28 having connection with the hammer-arm 24 and bar 30, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, a piston, a hammerarm carrying a tool on its outer end, its inner end pivoted within the casing, a bar pivotally arranged within the casing and having a slot at its upper end, a coupling between the slotted end of the bar and the piston, and a link connection between the said bar and the inner end of the hammer-arm, substantially as specified.

4. An inclosure for the support of operative parts of a scale-loosening device, comprising a member having a cylinder porti on, a slotted extension of said cylinder portion separated by a partition, ports of the cylinder portion communicating with the slotted extension through its side walls, and a sleeve encircling the slotted extension, as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES L. CHARVAT.

Witnesses:

CHAs. W. LA FORTE, ROBERT N. MoConMiox. 

